Remarks by Vice President Pence Before United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM) Briefing with Aerospace and Missile Defense Leadership

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Great. Well, first off, General Robinson, thank you for this gracious welcome to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. And to Governor Walker, thank you for your presence here today and for your leadership.

And to all of the tremendous members of this command, I bring you greetings from our Commander-in-Chief, and the gratitude of President Trump as well as the American people for the extraordinary service that you render here in providing for the common defense.

As the President has made clear, he has no higher priority than the safety and security of the American people, and missile defense is essential to our national defense. And the work that you do at this base and at other facilities across Alaska is the tip of the spear in missile defense for the United States.

And General, you and I have met at other locations associated with NORAD, and I’m particularly grateful for your great leadership and efforts.

But missile defense really begins here in Alaska at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and other bases — Fort Greely, the Missile Defense Agency, North American Aerospace Defense Command. These are the facilities, these are the men and women, and the technologies that identify, track, and ultimately destroy ballistic missile threats inbound from the United States.

And with the ongoing threats and provocations from North Korea, your work here is even more urgent and more important in the life of the nation. And it’s the reason I wanted to be here on my way to the region: to learn more about the work that you’re doing, but also to assure you that this Commander-in-Chief, our entire administration has your back.

I know, in the last fiscal year, we were able to secure an additional $5 billion in funding for missile defense. I also know there will be another 20 new ground-based interceptors here in Alaska.

And we’ll soon be releasing our missile defense review, which, in combination with our nuclear posture review, will continue to formulate and inform decisions within the administration and policymakers in the Congress about how we ensure that the men and women who serve here with such distinction have the resources and the training you need to accomplish your mission.

So to General Robinson and to all the other members of the command here, again, on behalf of your Commander-in-Chief, thank you for your leadership, thank you for your service, and thank you for the work that you do here 24/7 to keep America safe.